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Feel hand around neck, arteries bulging in head with pain, numbness in jaw and cheeks

potatochip321 August 27th, 2022

This is not a symptom I experience often, but it is concerning. I have a history of panic disorder (the most severe case that any doctor I encountered for 3 years had ever seen including in mental hospitals, but I live in a rural state and did not have agoraphobia at the time, so that would influence how many patients they could even compare me to), which is has been in remission for 3 years. In the past year, I have had a lot of times where I feel a panic attack beginning (often after experiencing hallucinations from schizoaffective disorder), but am able to stop them before they continue for very long. That all is not very relevant. What is relevant is that today, I became extremely worried about something, and for about 30 minutes, I felt as if someone was choking me with their hands on my throat, not only closing up my throat considerably but also making the majority of my face, from the tops of my cheeks down to the very bottom of my jaw feel numb and tingly as if they were losing blood flow. And as concerningly, I felt such pressure in what felt like the arteries all over my face and forehead, and began feeling a tight, aching pain over my right eye on my forehead. I was not having a panic attack - and that would be the least of my concerns. I made myself remain “calm,” so to speak. I am concerned because an hour later, after I discovered the thing I was worried about was resolved, I am laying calmly in bed and my face feels loose or sore. Worse, I feel a pressure and fullness in my forehead and the back of my head, especially over my right eye - the right eyebrow is scrunched down and frozen at an unnatural angle (as if I were super angry, or screaming at someone) while the left is unaffected. Some of my fingers just became numb and cold as I type this (and part of the wrist on that hand), but that happens sometimes and seems unrelated to anxiety. I had a Transient Ischemic Attack 3-4 years ago at age 19 which is similar to a stroke but does not cause brain damage, however it increases future stroke and heart attack risk. I am not going to be happy if I find out that my anxiety can literally kill me. Hopefully it’s something else. I can get to the ER if I need to since family lives nearby, but last time the doctor treated me like trash.

1
potatochip321 OP August 27th, 2022

@potatochip321 Well, good news, the eyebrow is no longer so noticeable. Perhaps I was paranoid. The pain remains. I thought I should clarify that when I had a TIA, it began in my sleep and was diagnosed at the hospital, it had nothing to do with anxiety. This is probably “nothing.” At least nothing that would be an immediate threat to my life.